Little Lion
by Murderotick
Summary: After accepting a seemingly simple request, Leo finds out that her new pet might not be so cute and cuddly. She's in for a whole lot of trouble, and she's in way too deep to back out now...


A Harry Potter Fanfiction

by NezumiYukimira

Little Lion

Chapter 1 - Request

* * *

"Hey, can I talk to you for a- WHAT THE _BLOODY _HELL ARE YOU DOING TO YOUR SOUP?"

Spinning around on the bench with my legs in the air (causing a rather worried-looking first year to lean away from me as far as humanly possible), I followed the source of the shout to find a fellow Hufflepuff, staring with his mouth hanging open at the spectacle beside me. I greeted him with my usual smile, momentarily forgetting about my soup-covered friend as I wondered to myself why this third-year boy seemed so alarmed.

I am so observant, aren't I?

"Hugo, you little shit!" screamed Jade, my soup-covered best friend (also a third-year Hufflepuff). Jumping up from her seat in the Great Hall and wiping away some tomato soup from around her eyes, she scanned the hall with eyes like a ferocious predator, searching for its prey. She found her target immediately as a small blur of red whizzed past us in a bid for escape. Hugo Weasley got lucky, as, with the help of his miniscule height, he managed to dart through a crowd of first-years and camouflage with them until they were at the end of the Great Hall. I caught a glimpse of his flame-red hair in the corner of my eye, and apparently so did Jade, as she started sprinting as fast as she could down the Great Hall, where she pulled off an awesome power slide to avoid running into a terrified first year, before scrambling to her feet and out of the Hall.

After a minute or so, everyone stopped speculating* about the scene and went back to eating their supper, and the only evidence left to even suggest that the event had ever occurred was the small trail of soup-splats leading from the seat next to me to the other end of the Great Hall, where they disappeared from view through the gigantic wooden doors.

*_Please note that, according to Jenny Thwaites, the most annoyingly perfect Vocabulary Queen who has to correct every sentence that happens to slip out of my mouth during the thirty-something hours I have to spend in the same class as her per week: teenagers are unlikely to 'speculate', and so I should no longer use this word, as it is inaccurate to use it when talking about teenagers._

Following the trail of soup with my eyes, I wondered if Hugo had managed to make it to the safety of Gryffindor Tower this time. We'd all know soon enough if he hadn't; after causing her to face-plant her soup, Hugo wouldn't be able to be within Jade's reach for the next month without walking away from the scene with considerably less blood inside him. Satisfied with this conclusion, I turned back to my supper. However, after all the excitement I no longer felt hungry; and so I decided to go back to my dorm. It was then that I managed to head butt Nathan's chin whilst getting up from the bench (which I had remained sat at throughout the entire event, offering no help to my soup-soaked friend whatsoever.)

"Ouch" yelped Nathan, rubbing his chin where I'd hit it. I scowled, wondering why he was making the fuss. His chin was _hard_. He'd managed to kill hundreds of my brain cells with it. _I_ was clearly the victim here.

"Sorry. Hi, by the way," I replied, a little louder than intended thanks to the ringing in my ears. "Oh yeah, what was it you were saying?"

He stared at me for a second, confused. Then, as if a sudden wave had washed over him, his expression became excited and I could tell he had something important to say.

"I need to ask you something. Well, first I need to show you something, but I can't show you here. Come on, I know somewhere we can go. Oh, and is your head OK?"  
"Oh yeah, I'm fine!" I nodded cheerfully, then immediately regretted it as my head started spinning. Nathan started walking to the doors, and I followed, rubbing the part of my head that had collided with his face.

* * *

After what felt like an hour of wandering around, getting lost, putting up with Nathan pretending to be a ninja, and being dangerously tempted to not warn the young wizard as he was about to step out onto a staircase that had already left whilst he'd been winding up the portraits (and me, for that matter), I finally gave up.

"Where exactly are we even _going_?" I moaned, eager to go back to my dorm and give my aching feet a rest. I hated aimless walking with a passion.  
"To a special secret place." He replied from over his shoulder as he stared at something at the end of the hall. I waited for him to elaborate, but instead he turned around and started walking back down the way we had just come. His incredible lack of direction had been funny the first hundred times we'd made a wrong turn, but now it was really pissing me off.

"Can't you just show me _here_? I swear, we've walked further than the length of the bloody Thames!" I whined. If my raw feet hadn't been screaming so loudly with pain, I probably would've heard voices in my head telling me to strangle Nathan.

"Ok, sure." He said, turning around to face me. And his expression told me he _wasn't_ joking. Irritated as I was, I still couldn't help giggling at both the situation and his obliviousness.

With all the wretched walking, I'd completely forgotten that Nathan had something to show me. He pulled something out of his pocket and held it cupped in his hands, covering it so I couldn't see straight away. At first I was disappointed when I realised how small it was. I thought he was gonna show me some super-broomstick. I'd wander aimlessly around the school until the skin on my feet had worn away (I'd almost forgotten. Ouch.) _any_ day for something as awesome as _that_. Unfortunately, I was not getting a ride on a fast broomstick. Anyway, inside Nathan's hands was a small golden egg.

"Tada!" he practically screamed at me, even though I was standing right in front of him. I glared, but he didn't seem to get the message. He was too busy grinning and looking proud of himself.

At first the egg didn't look that special. But then I noticed something amazing about it.

"Rocketing hopping-pots! That's the shiniest thing I've ever seen! Its so shiny I'm gonna frickin _die!_" I yelped, hopping from one foot to the other in excitement.  
"Um, yeah. But do you know what it _is?_" Nathan asked, pleased with my reaction.  
"Uh…" I paused for a second, staring at the egg. "Not a clue."

Nathan let out a sigh of exasperation and I laughed, which only seemed to make him _more _exasperated.

"Its an egg!" he said, looking very proud of himself.  
"I kinda figured that out already. Wait- you don't know what it is, do you? We walked all that way for you to show me a bloody _egg _and you don't even _bloody _know what's gonna _bloody _come out of the _bloody_ thing!" I shrieked. My earlier tiredness came flooding back over me, this time accompanied by irritation and despair. I dropped to the floor, though my landing was harder than expected. As I rubbed my sore arse I scowled at Nathan. He clearly got the message this time:

_I blame this on you._

"Okay, I don't know what's in it, _but _my dad found it when he was in working in Hungary last summer. He said it must be something rare since he's never seen anything like it before. That's where I need _you_." Nathan explained.

"_Me? _Why?" I asked from the floor, puzzled as to what I could possibly have to do with this strange egg.

"Umm… M-my dad doesn't know I took it. My friends know something's up and they keep trying to see what I'm hiding. If they found out they'd try and take it. They'd want to teach it tricks or something. Anyway, if _they _got their hands on this, uh, thing, someone's gonna find out about it sooner or later." Nathan said, avoiding direct eye contact.

I stood up, brushed myself off, put my hands on my hips and plastered my best smirk over my face.

"_So, _you need my help?" It didn't sound at all how I wanted it to, but it was just as effective even without the sarcasm I had intended.

"Look, just promise you'll look after it." He said, shoving the small golden egg into my hands. It was incredibly light and I had to look down to make sure I hadn't dropped it by mistake.

"Oooooooh, I wonder what's going on here!" said a shrill voice, followed by a menacing cackle. I looked up and saw the dreaded poltergeist, Peeves. I immediately shoved the fragile egg inside my pocket, then regretted it.

"Naughty, naughty, look who's been caughty!" said Peeves, his eyes glittering with spite.

"Piss off, Peeves!" yelled Nathan, clearly less than pleased with Peeves' arrival.

"A second and third year-"  
"I AM A THIRD YEAR!" I screamed at the poltergeist, who jumped (or floated, whichever is more appropriate for a poltergeist) back, shocked by my sudden outburst. I was not about to be degraded because of my height by someone who wasn't even solid.

I gave Peeves my most threatening glare – one that I'd had many a chance to practise on my brother, Corvus. He was shocked by my sudden rage; perhaps because I _am_ such a short person, though I only admit it to myself, and people just _expect _short people to be happy. _I hate leprechauns, _I complained to myself. _I know, stereotype's a bitch_ I replied.

Deciding not to mess with the angry short person, Peeves moved on to Nathan. At this point I had completely zoned out, having an inward debate with myself about whether or not leprechauns would use toothbrushes on a daily basis. I was clearly winning the argument, though on the other hand I was also losing it.

Anyway, when I finally managed to settle the argument with myself, I noticed that Peeves had begun pelting Nathan with pieces of chalk (he always kept a supply handy for such an occasion) and Nathan had, in response, hurled a nearby chair. Soon their petty squabble had turn into a competition of 'who can throw the furniture the hardest'.

I turned and walked away, not quite sure of where I was going, but wanting to get as far away as possible from this ridiculous display. As I rounded the corner I heard Nathan scream:

"Get back here! I'm not done with you yet- OW! NOT THE EYESOCKET!"

_Boys…_ I thought, rolling my eyes.  
_I know right, the little freaks._ I replied.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed the first of (hopefully) many chapters to come! Without my Beta Reader, Tigbert, I would NEVER have gotten this published. Thanks~

Next Chapter: Chapter 2 - Responsibility

Leo's been given a rare egg to look after, and soon her curious mind has her wondering what might be inside. However, a certain someone is determined to bust Leo at all costs. With the help of her friends, can Leo keep the egg a secret?


End file.
